The threat of a stronger earthquake in the wee hours of Friday looms large on the Sino-Burma border following Thursday evening's quake in China's Yunnan province bordering Burma. People started leaving their homes for open spaces much before midnight.

[People were evacuated from their homes and hotel rooms in Mai Ja Yang, the KIO controlled area on Sin-Burma border, close to Jang Hong in China's Yunnan province.] The Chinese National Earthquake Network is warning people in Ying Jiang County, Dehong Dai-Jingpo (Kachin) Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan province bordering Burma of another stronger earthquake. The warning comes soon after the area as the epicentre was hit by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale at 8:24 p.m. local time on Thursday, China's state-run Xinhua said. A few houses collapsed and some people suffered minor injuries in Ying Jiang and Ruili.

The National Earthquake Network has warned that another stronger earthquake will jolt the same places between 12 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. local time on Friday, according to locals.

The emergency earthquake warning was announced on loud speakers by local Chinese authorities in Ying Jiang, Jang Hong, Ruili (Shweli) and small villages along the Burma border. The officials told people not to stay in their homes and hotel rooms till the warning period expires, said residents in Jang Hong.

At the same time, people in Mai Ja Yang and Laiza, the controlled area of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in Kachin State in Northern Burma situated close to Ying Jiang are also being warned by the KIO authorities--- not to stay in their houses and hotel rooms till the earthquake waning period is over, residents i [Earthquake in China's south-west Yunnan province.] n Laiza and Mai Ja Yang told KNG.

The people on the Sino-Burma border told KNG that this evening's earthquake was quite strong and shook houses and buildings in Ying Jiang, Ruili, Jang Hong in Yunnan as well as Laiza, Mai Ja Yang and Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, said residents of those areas.

On Wednesday at 5:35 a.m. local time, a 5.3-magnitude earthquake hit areas 224 kilometres from the city of Dali in south-west China and 65 kilometres from Myitkyina in Burma, according to a statement on the US Geological Survey (USGS) website.

On the other hand, in the near future, people in the areas of the lower river of Taping (Ta Hkaw Hka) in Bhamo District in Kachin State in Burma may face another threat of dams bursting on the Taping River, which starts from China and ends in the Irrawaddy River in Burma. There is one dam being constructed on the Chinese side and two dams for hydroelectric power projects in Burma. They are being constructed by the China Datang Corporation (CDT), Awng Wa, chairman of Kachin Development Networking Group said.

In May, Sichuan province in south-west China was hit by a 7.9-maganitude earthquake which left nearly 70,000 dead, with about 18,000 people still missing.